


The Wedding Album

by I_m_cumberbatched



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: But only for Yuuri, Coach!Viktor, M/M, Meet Cute AU, Phichit is the best friend anyone could ask for, Pining!Viktor offscreen, dance instructor!Yuuri, sort of, viktor is thirsty af, wedding au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-11
Packaged: 2018-10-17 13:31:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10595010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_m_cumberbatched/pseuds/I_m_cumberbatched
Summary: The second last text is just a long string of hearts and heart-eye emojis, but the last one makes Yuuri falter. It’s a close-up of a silver-haired man - a gorgeous, beautiful silver-haired god? - with a completely enamored expression on his face. Underneath the picture is another text.Phichit: Oooooohhhhh who’s the hottie checking you out





	

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of this prompt: “I was invited to a friend’s wedding a week ago and now I’m going through the pictures and you are literally making eyes at me in every single one. I don’t even know you. I barely remember seeing you there. But you’re kind of, um, well really hot, and you appear to think the same of me so now I’m asking around everywhere trying to get your contact information who knew this was SO HARD". 
> 
> This is kind of a writing exercise for me in trying to be a bit more. I have a problem with dragging out a story and being long-winded... Like I had an idea for a soulmate AU that I intended to be 1, maybe 2 chapters. It's now 13 chapters and counting.... 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this! I'm not entirely happy with it, but I think the point came across, and it was a good exercise, even if it did come out longer than I thought (surprise, surprise). I'm also thinking about writing a companion piece from Viktor's point of view.

Yuuri is barely in the door when he feels his phone vibrate at least a thousand times. He groans and tosses his keys onto the table next to the door and unwraps himself from the layers he’s bundled into. He slips out of his shoes and into his slippers, then staggers over to the couch. He collapses onto it with a sigh and stretches out. It’s been a long, tiring day.

His phone vibrates again and Yuuri fumbles it out of his pocket. There are six new text messages from Phichit, all sent within the last minute.

_Phichit: Leo and Guang-Hong’s wedding album is finally posted!!!!!!!!_

_Phichit: Ok I know I said I would be able to do a better job_

_Phichit: But these pics are all seriously gorgeous_

_Phichit: I humbly withdraw my complaint about not being asked to be the photographer_

The second last text is just a long string of hearts and heart-eye emojis, but the last one makes Yuuri falter. It’s a close-up of a silver-haired man - a _gorgeous_ , beautiful silver-haired _god_? - with a completely enamored expression on his face. Underneath the picture is another text.

_Phichit: Oooooohhhhh who’s the hottie checking you out_

Yuuri flushes and then rolls his eyes. There’s no way a man like _that_ would be checking Yuuri out. Yuuri stares at the picture for a little longer. It’s a little blurry from being zoomed in on - Phichit’s doing when he took the screenshot - but there’s no hiding the clear azure color of his eyes, the sultry curve of his lips. His hair is styled to flop into his face artistically and only accentuates his sharp cheekbones and the strong cut of his jaw. Yuuri thinks he may actually melt into a weeping puddle of awe just from this picture alone.

_Yuuri: You need to get your eyes checked._

_Yuuri: No way THAT guy is checking ME out._

_Phichit: Yuuri._

_Phichit: Proof_

Yuuri can practically feel Phichit’s eye-roll from across the city. His phone buzzes again, the full picture coming through. Yuuri and Phichit are posing with Leo and Guang-Hong at the reception, but in the background Yuuri spots the silver-haired man. His gaze is focused in the direction of the four of them, but it could easily be directed towards someone else beyond the scope of the camera.

_Yuuri: It’s just the camera angle. He could be looking at someone past us._

_Yuuri: He could be looking at YOU._

_Yuuri: Hell, he could be making eyes at Guang-Hong, for all we know_.

There is a pause, in which Yuuri swears he hears Phichit’s self-sacrificial sigh, his _why me_ lament of having to deal with Yuuri.

_Phichit: Yuuri_

_Phichit: He is looking at you like that in every. Single. Picture_.

Yuuri rolls his eyes again. There is no way that it’s _every_ picture. Even if he _is_ checking Yuuri out in this one shot, he highly doubts he managed to catch his attention for the _entire_ night. It’s not like he’s that fascinating. In fact, other than being decent at dance instruction, he's pretty boring.

_Phichit: See for yourself_

His phone buzzes again with the link to the wedding album. With a long-suffering sigh, Yuuri opens it and starts thumbing through. And…. Oh.

Phichit may be right.

It starts off innocuously enough. A shot of Yuuri as a groomsman and Phichit as Guang-Hong’s best man standing up at the altar as they say their vows. And there, sitting in Leo’s side of guests, he spies the familiar silver sheen of the man’s hair. And he supposes it does sort of look his head is tilted in his direction, but it’s just a shot of the back of his head. Easy enough to mistake.

There are several more similarly framed shots, as well as close ups of Leo and Guang-Hong as they exchange rings, vows, and finally kiss. Then the procession down the aisle, and yeah, that does look like the man is following Yuuri’s progress down the aisle. But, again, it’s easy to mistake the direction of his gaze in the picture.

The next several dozen are of the wedding party only. Yuuri skips through them fairly quickly, though pauses to admire a few. Phichit was right. This photographer captured some _beautiful_ shots.

He then moves on to the reception which are more … incriminating. They start out much the same as the ceremony pictures. Yuuri is seated at the front of the room with the wedding party and it’s difficult to catch, but in many shots he can just make out the silver hair, the man’s head swiveled to the front of the room. When the pictures move on to the dancing…. Well.

Yuuri had been slow to dance that night. He normally is. He may be a dance instructor - ballet, jazz, and contemporary - but his natural ease on the dance floor is always at war with his social anxiety. Yuuri started off on the sidelines, but he remembers after Phichit had gotten a few drinks into him he let loose. As the pictures capture later and later moments of the night, Yuuri loses first his suit jacket, then his tie, then several buttons on his shirt.

In every single picture, the gorgeous man’s eyes are on Yuuri, and as the dancing continues the look in his eyes becomes more and more enraptured.

Yuuri takes a deep breath.

With shaking fingers he closes out of the photo album and calls Phichit.

Phichit answers with a salty, “Do you believe me _now_?”

“Oh my _god_ ,” Yuuri breathes. “It is literally _every picture_.”

“I _told_ you!”

“I was so ready to call you and tell you to get your head out of your ass, but.” Yuuri lets out a shaky breath. “Like my brain is doing everything it can to tell me that I’m reading too much into it, but literally _every single picture_.”

“I _know_!” Phichit’s voice is breathless with excitement. “Oh my god, can I help you plan the wedding? Can I be the photographer? I promise, the pictures will be beautiful! Oh my god, think about how beautiful your children will be, with his eyes and your complexion-”

“Phichit!” Yuuri interjects, his heart hammering in his ribs. “Please! I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself. And it would be physically impossible for us to have children.” Oh, but if they could…. Phichit is right. Those babies would be gorgeous.

“Mari looks like you, though. She could donate an egg!” There is a tinny squeal from his phone that makes Yuuri scrunch his face up in pain. “Little Katsuki … whatever-his-name-is kiddos running around. I’d be their godfather, right?”

“Stop,” Yuuri says with a sigh. “I don’t even know this guy’s name, or what he’s like. Maybe he’s a total dick. He probably is, looking like that.”

Phichit whines, “ _Yuuri_. Don’t you think you should at least give him a try? He _could_ be a total douchebag, and if he is you never have to talk to him again. Or he could be your one true love, your soulmate, your _raison d’etre_ -”

Yuuri rolls his eyes. “Yeah I get the picture.”

“I’m just saying,” Phichit retorts with a huff, “if you don’t give it a chance you could regret it for the rest of your life.”

“ _Fine_. But this guy ends up being a serial killer who picks his victims out at weddings and I get murdered I’m gonna haunt you for the rest of your life.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Phichit agrees.

Yuuri sighs again. “Okay. But how am I supposed to find him? Like I said, I don’t even know his name.”

“It shouldn’t be too hard,” Phichit answers. There’s a thoughtful tone to his voice. “He was at the wedding, so theoretically _someone_ should know him. You could ask Guang-Hong or Leo. I bet they’d know.”

Yuuri heaves himself off the couch with a groan as his muscles protest the movement after so long of being still. He heads to the small kitchen and starts up his kettle to make some tea. “They just left for their honeymoon. I don’t want to disturb them.”

“I mean, they just got married, so I’m sure they’d be more than happy to help someone else find love, too, but if you insist.” There’s a clatter and a muffled string of swear words muttered in Thai. “Ugh, I don’t think Guang-Hong and I have done the dishes since you moved out, Yuuri, really.” Yuuri quirks a smile at that and pulls out his own clean mug and a tea bag. “I guess you could start with some of the other guests. They might know him.”

His electric kettle clicks and he pours the steaming water over the tea bag. “I guess.” There is another clatter in the background. Yuuri raises his eyebrows as he stirs in sugar. “Everything okay over there?”

“Okay? Yes. Clean?” There’s a pause. “Definitely not. Well, keep me posted. As you know all too well, I have had no luck in the romance department so I have no choice but to live vicariously through you.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll give you all the juicy, embarrassing details. If anything even comes of it.”

\---

Yuuri texts, messages, and calls everyone he can think of that was at the wedding. No one seems to actually know who Yuuri’s mystery man is, though several people certainly noticed him. Yuuri even creeps through Guang-Hong and Leo’s friend lists on multiple social media pages without any luck.

“I have no clue who he is. It’s like the guy’s a ghost,” Yuuri complains to Phichit when they meet up for lunch the following week. “No one knows him.” He rests his head sulkily on his hand as he stares down at his food.

Phichit frowns, then takes a large bite of his pasta. He shrugs, swallowing thickly. “Leo and Guang-Hong get back tomorrow. They should know.”

Yuuri pokes at his food half-heartedly. “Is there any point, though?” he asks, his voice glum. “It’s been two weeks. He’s probably totally forgotten about me anyway.”

“Yuuri.” Phichit puts down his fork, his face somber. “There is no way he forgot about you. Do I have to pull up the pictures to remind you just how in love this guy looks?” He doesn’t wait for an answer as he fiddles with his phone and then shoves it under Yuuri’s nose. “Okay, you don’t look at someone _like that_ and then totally forget them the next day. Unless you have some kind of short term memory problem like that movie with Drew Barrymore, but chances are he doesn’t have that, so.”

Yuuri frowns, slumping in on himself more. “Yeah, but-”

“No. No buts.” Phichit points emphatically at his phone. “Look at it and tell me that the man looking at you like you hung the stars in the sky forgot about you already. Look at his face. If you had asked him right then and there to get married he would have said yes, no questions.”

Yuuri sighs. “Yeah, you’re right.” He hands the phone back over.

“Plus, _you_ haven’t forgotten about him, and you didn’t even notice him that night.”

“Okay, I get it, Phichit.” Yuuri stabs into his chicken breast with his fork. “I’ll ask Guang-Hong if he knows who he is.”

\---

“Silver hair?” Guang-Hong asks. He frowns into the camera.

“He was one of Leo’s guests,” Yuuri supplies helpfully. He adjusts his phone, leaning it up against a book on the table so that the camera angle hits him better.

“Yeah, I remember him, but I don’t think I actually met him.” Guang-Hong swivels his head to the side. “Leo!”

In the background Yuuri can hear a muffled, “Yeah?” in the distance and then Guang-Hong yelling back, “Can you come here?” There is a slight staticky bump as Guang-Hong accidentally hits the microphone while adjusting his position, then he pulls out the headphones as Leo’s torso appears on screen.

He sits on the bed next to Guang-Hong, his hand resting on his back. “Hi, Yuuri!” he says with a bright smile and Yuuri waves. Leo looks back over to Guang-Hong, his expression full of warmth. “What’s up?”

Leo looks sweaty and tired. Yuuri knows that the two of them have been busy unpacking. Before the wedding Guang-Hong had been unofficially living with Leo, but still running back to the apartment he shared with Phichit about twice a week. Now they’ve officially moved in and have been working on slowly moving Guang-Hong’s things over to their now shared apartment.

“Sorry to bother you,” Yuuri says and Leo waves him off.

“Yuuri’s looking for one of the guests at our wedding,” Guang-Hong explains.

“Tall-ish, silver hair, blue eyes?” Yuuri says, leaving out the _looks like a sculpture carved out of ice_ part.

“Oh, yeah, that’s Viktor,” Leo says. He looks slightly surprised. “I don’t really know him that well, actually.”

The hope that Yuuri had felt rising in his chest is quickly dashed. He visibly deflates, shoulders slumping. “Oh. So you wouldn’t know how to get in touch with him?”

Leo’s brows furrow. “Maybe. Why?”

“Um.” Yuuri flushes and looks down. “Well, I noticed - actually _Phichit_ noticed, really - him in your wedding album.” He picks at a spot on his kitchen table. “And Phichit noticed, and he pointed it out to me, that he’s - Viktor’s…. Well, it _looks_ like Viktor’s … looking at me in a lot of the pictures.” He rubs at his nose awkwardly. “Well, all of them, actually.” He glances up to see both Guang-Hong and Leo grinning at him.

“You mean he’s checking you out?” Leo says, Guang-Hong laughing delightedly. “Did you guys hook up?”

“No!” Yuuri cries immediately, causing Guang-Hong to gasp scandalously.

“ _Yuuri_. I had no idea you were like that,” Guang-Hong teases.

Yuuri flushes more deeply. “I’m not like _anything_ ,” he insists. “We didn’t even talk. Until just now I didn’t even know his name.”

Leo and Guang-Hong laugh until Leo takes pity on him. “It’s fine, we’re just kidding.”

Yuuri scowls and crosses his arms over his chest. “Phichit talked me into this. I’m gonna murder him.”

Leo grins, still delighted at the matchmaking prospect in front of him. “So you saw him checking you out and thought you should give it a go.” Yuuri nods, his face still flushed deeply. “I think I should be able to figure something out.”

Guang-Hong hums consideringly. “Wasn’t he Chris’s plus one?”

“Yeah, he was,” Leo confirms, then looks at Yuuri. “Chris was one of my groomsmen. He was paired with you, actually.”

“Oh.” A flash of recognition floods Yuuri’s mind as he remembers the groomsman’s tight suit, bleached hair, and sultry looks. “I remember. He was … interesting. He grabbed my ass when we were posing for pictures after the ceremony, then apologized when he could tell it made me kind of uncomfortable.”

“That’s him.” Leo nods. “He can get pretty handsy, but usually only with friends. He must have felt pretty comfortable around you.”

“It’s surprising the first few times, but you get used to it surprisingly fast,” Guang-Hong says thoughtfully. “He’s coming over tomorrow, though, to help move some bigger stuff. We’ll ask him then.”

“You will?” Yuuri asks with a grin. “Thank you so much! And if you need any help with moving, or anything else, ever, just ask!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Leo assures him. “Anything we can do to make our friend as happy as we are.” He looks down at Guang-Hong adoringly, his hand slipping around his shoulders, and Guang-Hong leans into the touch.

Yuuri hopes that he can find a love as sweet as theirs one day. And if that happens to be with Viktor, then he’s looking forward to it happening sooner rather than later.

\---

Two days later Yuuri gets a text from an unknown number, though it’s not really a mystery as to who it’s from.

_Unknown: Well, well, well._

_Unknown: So your gorgeous eyes have caught Viktor, have they?_

Yuuri flushes at the compliment, the residual feeling of his ass being goosed cropping up.

_Yuuri: Chris, I’m guessing?_

_Unknown: You remembered? I’m flattered_.

Yuuri rolls his eyes. It seems that about 90 percent of what Chris says is pure flirtation.

 _Yuuri: Actually I don’t think you ever introduced yourself in between grabbing my ass and flirting with the entire wedding party_.

He’s honestly not sure what's got into himself.

_Chris: Oh, yeah. That._

_Chris: I am really sorry about that._

_Chris: I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable and I’ll try not to again._

_Yuuri: It’s okay, actually. After I got over the shock I WAS kind of flattered…. Which is pretty embarrassing_

_Yuuri: I think that says more about me than it does about you…._

_Chris: In my defense you do have a very nice ass._

_Chris: On behalf of Viktor I approve. He’s chosen well._

_Chris: I take my job as Best Friend very seriously._

_Yuuri: I’m glad I passed the test._

_Chris: With flying colors so far._

_Chris: And speaking of my bestie Viktor…._

_Chris: I hear that you’ve been looking for him._

_Yuuri: You heard right._

_Chris: Well, he’ll be ecstatic to hear that. He hasn’t stopped talking about you since the wedding._

_Chris: It’s driving everyone insane. I’m the only one who’ll still listen._

_Chris: Like I said: Best Friend. Very serious business._

_Yuuri: Oh my god, really?_

_Yuuri: Honestly I don’t really understand. I’m not that special._

_Yuuri: I don’t get how I made such a big impression?_

_Chris: Oh, Yuuri, my sweet child._

_Chris: You can’t see me but I’m shaking my head in disappointment._

_Yuuri: Okay? So what did I do exactly?_

_Chris: Well he was brought in by your looks, at first, obviously._

_Yuuri: But I’m not that attractive?_

_Yuuri: Especially compared to him! He’s gorgeous!_

_Chris: I think that was part of it, actually. You’re beautiful, but you seriously don’t think that you are._

_Chris: I think it made him kind of curious about you, how everyone could see you this one way and you see yourself a completely different way._

_Yuuri: Okay? Is that it?_

_Chris: Is that it he asks…._

_Chris: I think you just surprised him._

_Chris: You started off as so shy, reserved, but once you got comfortable he could just see YOU and…. I don’t know_

_Chris: I think this is something he can answer a lot better._

_Chris: Or maybe not. Maybe he doesn’t even know._

_Chris: But you really captured his attention, I’ll tell you that._

_Chris: You should hear the way he talks about you._

_Chris: It’s annoyingly adorable._

_Chris: But anyway. I’m gonna set you guys up._

_Yuuri: Just like that?!_

_Chris: Yeah. Hopefully it’ll stop him crying to me about the “beautiful Japanese man who stole my heart and soul and I will never be the same.”_

_Yuuri: Isn’t he going to be mad at you for telling me all this?????_

_Chris: Honestly? No._

_Chris: There are some things he can be kind of reserved about but for the most part he wears his heart on his sleeve with the people he’s close to._

_Chris: And he’s kind of an idiot to tell you the truth._

_Yuuri: Well…… Ok._

_Yuuri: I’m free this Saturday._

_Chris: Perfect._

\---

Phichit stays the night on Friday to offer his support because Phichit, like Chris, takes his role as Best Friend very seriously. And Yuuri is freaking out.

“What am I doing?” Yuuri groans. He’s lying on his bed, face down. There are shirts and jeans strewn around him in messy “absolutely not” and “possible” piles. There are more absolutely nots than possibles. “This is such a bad idea. He’s gonna take one look at me and change his mind. I’m hideous.”

“He is _not_ going to do that,” Phichit assures him. “And you are nowhere near hideous. Come on, Yuuri. Would I disgrace my selfies with a hideous friend?”

“Yes,” Yuuri says, “to make me feel better about myself because you’re a great person and I’m terrible.” He turns his face to the side and squints up at Phichit. “I should just text Chris and cancel. This is going to be a disaster.”

“No,” Phichit says firmly. “There’s no way you’re cancelling this.” He pulls out his phone and brandishes it like a weapon in Yuuri’s face. “Don’t make me use this on you. I’m not afraid to make you stare at those pictures up until the moment you sit down in that chair across from him. Don’t test me.”

Yuuri lets out a long, drawn-out groan. “I know, I _know_. I’ve seen them so many times! But there’s still no way this is going to work out. It’s too good to be true. The shoe has to drop sometime.”

“So the shoe will drop. But it’s not going to be today.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“But I am,” Phichit insists. “Remember what I told you? This could be _it_. You could be meeting your future husband in just one hour. But if he’s not, then who cares? So it goes south. It happens every day. You never know if it’s going to work out, but you still do it because if this is the time it _does_ …. Do you really want to miss out on that?”

Yuuri groans again, but he sits up, his shoulders slumped. “No,” he says sulkily.

“Good.” Phichit digs around the “possibly” pile. “You’re going, and you’re gonna wear _this_ ,” he says flinging a shirt at Yuuri’s head, “because blue is _so_ your color.”

In the end, Phichit sends Yuuri off in a dark blue button-up and black jeans, with his hair slicked back like it was at the wedding. Phichit had ultimately refused to let Yuuri go without his glasses, even when Yuuri whined, “But I wasn’t wearing them at the wedding!”

“And you were also not wearing contacts and couldn’t see anything, which is why you probably didn’t see Viktor in the first place,” he shoots back, practically shoving Yuuri out the door.

The walk to the cafe is short, but it seems to drag on for hours in Yuuri’s anxiety-ridden mind. It keeps coming up with scenarios that he _knows_ are ridiculous, but plague him anyway. He’s just thinking that this is probably some cruel joke that Chris and Viktor devised to humiliate him - why, he has no idea, but that’s just what his brain does - when he halts just in front of the cafe. He sucks in a deep breath, taking the time to clear out his mind the way his therapist had taught him to, and pushes the door open.

The cafe they had landed on as a meeting place is one of Yuuri’s favorites: cozy, warm, and generally not too crowded. It’s a good place to go to think, or for him to work on some choreography for his classes. Today it’s not very busy, a few people scattered around the tables and couches.

Yuuri spots Viktor immediately, his eyes drawn to the distinctive silver hair. He’s already sitting down at a table, a mug in front of him. He’s not paying attention, typing something on his phone, so Yuuri takes another moment to steel himself before walking over, trying to keep his legs from stiffening up.

Viktor takes a drink just as Yuuri reaches the table, squeaking out an awkward, “Hi, uh, you must be Viktor.” Viktor looks up, cup poised at his lips, and his eyes widen. He must suck in a breath because he chokes into the mug, then promptly starts coughing.

“Oh my god!” Yuuri says. His hands flutter over Viktor for a few moments, not sure what to do. “I’m sorry, I’ll get some water!” The barista is already handing him a glass of water when he reaches the counter. He thanks them and heads back, handing it over to Viktor, who is still coughing.

“I’m so sorry,” he says again, sitting across from him. Viktor shakes his head and takes a long drink, coughing a few more times. There are tears sparkling at the corners of Viktor’s eyes as he clears his throat, which he wipes away. “Can I get you anything else?” Yuuri asks.

“No, it’s okay,” Viktor finally says. His voice is slightly raspy from the coughing and his cheeks are flaming red, but he stares at Yuuri in wonder. “You just surprised me.”

“Oh.” Yuuri’s shoulders slump slightly and he feels a wave of disappointment rush over him. “Yeah, I guess I’m not really what you expected, right? I really didn’t want to disappoint you, but it’s too late for that I suppose.”

“Disappoint me?” Viktor repeats. He has a slight accent - Eastern European, Yuuri thinks, but he’s not sure where exactly - that Yuuri thinks he could happily listen to all day. He’ll have to settle for the next hour, at most, the way this date’s started off. “What do you mean?”

Yuuri flushes. He hadn’t planned on admitting that this date was all down to the fact that Viktor had been looking at him in each of the wedding pictures, but needs must. “Well, my friend Phichit noticed you in Leo and Guang-Hong’s wedding album and it looked like you were … um, possibly interested in me?” He pauses, glancing at Viktor’s face for a moment before continuing. “And, I mean, I’m not very interesting or anything, so I really didn’t want you to be expecting some kind of, I don’t know, suave, charming playboy, but….” Yuuri chances another look at him and immediately backpedals at the perplexed expression on Viktor’s face. “And, oh my god, I’m reading this totally wrong, aren’t I? You _were_ looking at someone else at the wedding, and now I’m here making a complete fool of myself, I’m so _sorry_. You must think I’m an idiot.”

Yuuri buries his face in his hands, completely mortified. He never should have listened to Phichit, and agreed to this date, and gotten his hopes up that maybe this would amount to something. “God, I’m so _stupid_.” He runs his hands through his hair and stands. “I’m just going to leave. Just … forget this ever happened.” He turns to go.

“Woah, hold on.” Viktor’s hand flies out to grasp at his wrist. He may be imagining it, but there’s a slight tingle where their skin touches, just past the cuff of Yuuri’s shirt. Viktor clears his throat again, clearly still trying to free it from the raspiness, and it works because it no longer sounds like gravel when he talks again. “Just…. Just slow down for a second, okay?” And that….

That is a nice voice. A very nice voice. Yuuri wants to grow old with that voice. He wants to hear that voice talk about the weather, or taxes, or every other dreary thing he can think of because there is no way that anything could sound boring when it comes from that voice. And he wants to do things to that voice, things that he really should not be thinking about right now because they’re making his face redder than it already is.

“Uh….” Yuuri glances down at the hand gripping his wrist, then back up to Viktor’s desperately pleading expression. “Okay…. Sure.” He slowly sits back down.

Viktor releases his wrist, looking relieved. “Thank you.” An awkward silence settles upon them for a few moments before Viktor asks, “Can I get you a coffee?”

“Um, sure. A Chai latte?” Yuuri reaches into his pocket for his wallet.

“No, it’s on me.” When Yuuri opens his mouth to argue Viktor shakes his head. “I insist. I’ll be right back.”

Yuuri watches Viktor go up to the counter - and it’s definitely not a bad view in the slightest - and place his order, then start furiously texting someone. Yuuri wonders who he’s texting and what he’s saying, if he’s saying anything about Yuuri. He probably is. Most likely nothing good.

It doesn’t take long before Viktor is returning with Yuuri’s steaming mug. He sets it down in front of Yuuri and slides back into his chair across the table. Yuuri blows on it to cool it before taking a quick sip. “Thank you. You didn’t have to-”

“I wanted to,” Viktor assures him with a smile - a beautiful, _dangerous_ smile, one that does _things_ to Yuuri’s heart. “So…. The wedding.”

“Um, yeah. That,” Yuuri confirms, not quite sure what to say. “So … my friend was right then? About…. About you and me?”

Viktor’s smile spreads even further. “Who else would I have been looking at?”

“Well, there were a lot of people there, so literally anyone?” Yuuri shrugs. “And it’s not like I really stand out or anything.”

“Really?” Viktor asks, and he actually sounds completely disbelieving. “Because you caught my attention right away, and you haven’t lost it since.”

Yuuri feels his face flame up, and he looks down. He has to look away from that _smile_ , those hypnotic _eyes_ or he’ll do something stupid. “I did?”

Viktor leans forward. “You did. You’ve captivated me,” he says and Yuuri just about dies. Who even says things like that with a straight face? And with that voice, too. Viktor shifts slightly in his seat and Yuuri jumps as he feels Viktor’s foot brushing against his leg before settling, slightly in Yuuri’s foot space. Yuuri is not about to complain. “Though I do think you’re at a slight advantage. I don’t even know your name.”

“You don’t?” Viktor shakes his head, then takes a slow drink of his coffee, his eyes never leaving Yuuri’s. “Chris didn’t tell you?”

“No, he did not. Chris told me that if he had to listen to me whine about the gorgeous groomsman one more time he was going to murder someone, so he set me up on a blind date. He also said that this blind date would make me stop pining and whining about it to him. I asked him how a blind date would be able to make me forget the gorgeous groomsman that I’d been pining over, and he said that I would just have to wait and see.” Viktor leans forward even further, resting his head on his hand. “He just neglected to tell me that my date would actually _be_ the gorgeous groomsman. And I really would love to know your name so I can call you something other than ‘the gorgeous groomsman’.”

Yuuri takes a moment to answer. He’s too busy wondering if he somehow woke up in an alternate dimension where he’s actually _desirable_ , because this has _never_ happened to him before. He’s been on a few dates, kissed a few people, but this level of attraction - apparently mutual, too - is completely foreign territory. “Um, my name’s Yuuri.” As an afterthought he adds, “Katsuki.”

“Yuuri Katsuki,” Viktor repeats, as if he’s mulling it over. Yuuri shudders in surprising pleasure at the way Viktor’s accent curls around the vowels in his name. “I’m Viktor Nikiforov.”

“I know,” Yuuri says, and then mentally kicks himself. “I mean, I knew your name is Viktor, but not the last part. The Nikiforov part.” He wills his mouth to just _shut up_ for once in his life, but it’s taken on a mind of it’s own at this point. “It’s nice. It’s a nice name. I mean, it suits you.”

Viktor is watching him with an enraptured expression, very similar to the one he wore in most of the pictures from the wedding. “Thank you,” he says when Yuuri finally stops, thank _god_. Yuuri groans and buries his face in his palms and Viktor chuckles. “You’re adorable.” Yuuri shakes his head, partly in mortification, partly in denial of being adorable. There’s a brush of skin against the back of his hand and then Viktor is pulling his hands away from his face. “You don’t have to hide from me,” Viktor assures him. There is nothing but earnestness in his eyes. Yuuri feels some of the tension he’s been carrying in his shoulders - anxiety over this meeting going poorly - leaving at that. “Yuuri, I’d like to take you on a date.”

Yuuri looks down at his hands, still cradled in Viktor’s own, slightly larger, hands. “Isn’t that what we’re doing now?”

Viktor’s thumbs rub lightly on Yuuri’s hands. “A real date,” he specifies, “where I pick you up at your apartment with flowers and we go out to dinner, maybe go dancing. Would you like that?”

“You dance?” Yuuri asks curiously.

“Something like that.” Viktor looks at him hopefully. “Is that a yes?”

Yuuri pulls back, feigning thoughtfulness. “I think I’d like you to elaborate on that before I answer. I’m a dance instructor, you know. I can’t be seen out in public with someone that can’t keep up with me.”

There is a moment of shocked silence between them before Yuuri sends a small smile to Viktor and Viktor responds with a huge grin. “Oh really?” he asks. “Well, I don’t have any ballroom training, but I was a competitive figure skater, so I did study ballet.”

Yuuri tucks that new information away for study later - competitive figure skating _definitely_ explains Viktor’s phenomenal physique, and that’s just … well, Yuuri’s had kind of a _thing_ for figure skating - while pretending to consider this. “Well, I suppose just ballet will have to do for now.”

“That’s a relief. But maybe you could give me some private lessons sometime,” he suggests. It’s very possible that there’s another meaning behind those words. “You know, so you don’t have to worry about me stepping on your toes.” And, yeah, definitely another meaning judging by the way Viktor’s foot is currently stroking up and down Yuuri’s calf. “I can promise you that I’m a very hard worker.”

Yuuri flushes. “I’m sure you are. That sounds … um, really _great_. Perfect.” He clears his throat, hoping to hide just how actually perfect that sounds right now. “But how about dinner first? I know a really good place right around the corner.” The foot on Yuuri’s calf has stopped and Yuuri’s mind automatically goes to the worst conclusion. He rushes to add, “Unless you already have plans tonight. We can do it another time.”

Viktor however, looks thrilled and not at all like he’s about to stomp Yuuri’s heart to pieces. “Dinner sounds perfect,” he says, reaching over to lay his hand on Yuuri’s. “And I don’t think there’s really _anything_ I could have planned that I wouldn’t heartlessly abandon right now for you. But lucky for us, I’m free.”

Viktor’s pointer finger is rubbing gentle circles into Yuuri’s skin. Yuuri licks his lips and with a flick of his wrist intertwines their fingers together. “Good.”

\---

They’re only halfway through the main course when another round of glasses clinking starts up. Yuuri isn’t tired of kissing Viktor, by no means. He doesn’t think he’ll ever be tired of kissing Viktor, which is a good thing, because they did just get married, after all. It would be nice, though, if their guests could refrain from clinking their glasses just when one of the grooms has taken a giant bite of the delicious pork being served.

Yuuri turns to Viktor - his _husband_! - with an apologetic look, chewing viciously. Viktor laughs and shakes his head, looking at Yuuri the same way he’s been looking at him all day, all year, ever since the last time they were at a wedding together, really: with amazement, and love, and affection. Yuuri finally manages to swallow. Viktor doesn’t even give him the time to take a drink of water to wash down the meat before his lips are on Yuuri’s. Cheers around the room morph into whistles and cat-calls as the kiss turns from a peck into something more. There is a very distinctive yell from further down the wedding party table - Viktor’s protege, Yuri Plisetsky, clearly - to _get a fucking room_ that cuts in to break them apart.

Yuuri looks away in embarrassment, his cheeks flaming. Viktor leans in, his lips to Yuuri’s ear, and whispers, “I actually think the pork tastes better that way.”

“Oh my _god_ ,” Yuuri groans, shoving Viktor lightly with his elbow. “You can’t just _say_ things like that in front of all these people.” There’s a grin playing on his face though. Honestly, after a year of being subjected to both Viktor and Chris’s level of inappropriateness Yuuri has grown _somewhat_ used to it.

“It’s true, though,” Viktor protests. There are more cheers and wolf whistles as Viktor kisses Yuuri’s neck, his hand wrapping around Yuuri’s waist.

On the other side of Yuuri, Phichit gives them a grin and stands up. The crowd quiets down as he raises his glass, clearly taking advantage of their guests’ attention already at the front of the room. “Well, seeing as Yuuri’s already embarrassed, now seems like a good time for his best man to add as much more as I possibly can.” The guests laugh, most of them all too familiar with how easily Yuuri gets embarrassed.

“For those of you who don’t know me,” he starts, “which probably isn’t many of you, seeing as….” Phichit turns to Yuuri for a moment. “How did you put it, Yuuri? I’m like a little puppy who sees a new person and just thinks, ‘Oh, that’s my new best friend!’” There’s more laughter and Yuuri can tell Phichit is just feeding off of the attention. “Well, that’s probably pretty accurate. Anyway, I’m Phichit, and while I may have many best friends, Yuuri is my one true best friend. I may not have known him the longest of anyone here, but I probably know him the best. Or, well, I guess we may be tied there now, Viktor.

“But, that just means that it’s my pleasure to give all of you a speech about these two idiots and how they fell in love. And let me tell you, it is … possibly the most adorable story ever.”

Phichit pauses here to take a quick drink of champagne before launching into the rest of his speech. “Ironically, this story started at a wedding, too, almost one year ago to the day. I was also best man at that wedding, and Yuuri was one of the groomsmen. The wedding itself was great, but ultimately pretty uneventful. I was hoping to get Yuuri to drink a bit more than he had, because most of you probably don’t know this, but Yuuri gets … well, let’s just say he tends to _let loose_ when he drinks. Little known fact, but Yuuri here is the life of the party when he drinks. I’m talking pants off, stripper pole up, inhibitions completely gone.”

“ _Phichit_ ,” Yuuri hisses, throwing a glance over to where his family is sitting, but they’re just chuckling good-naturedly like the rest of their guests. Traitors.

“And, I never told him this, but I sort of wanted to set him up with someone at the wedding, and I thought maybe if he drank he’d be more open to the idea. And I did actually have a specific person in mind, so I’m actually _really_ thankful that _that_ didn’t pan out. But, hey, we had fun, we danced, it was all in all a really great night, even if Yuuri didn’t find the person of his dreams there.

“At least, that’s what I thought. Fast forward to about a week later. I had been hounding Leo and Guang-Hong to put up their wedding photos and when I finally checked them again that day they were uploaded. Okay, I do have to admit that I was a _tiny_ bit jealous-” Yuuri rolls his eyes just as there’s a derisive snort from the direction of Leo and Guang-Hong’s table. “-that I was the best man and not the photographer, so I was eager to check out this so called _professional’s_ work.” There is more laughter and Phichit raises his glass to Yuuri and Viktor’s photographer, incidentally the same one. “And yeah, okay, they were beautiful, but more importantly…. They captured something that I don’t think almost anyone realized was happening.

“Now, I did bring along some visual aids, so if we could get that projector going, that would be great.” There is a moment of shuffling towards the back, the lights dimming, and then the projector turns on. Yuuri twists around in his seat to be able to see the screen that had been set up, but he already knows what he’s going to see. Sure enough, the original picture that Phichit had sent Yuuri is blown up on the screen. Yuuri’s eyes are automatically drawn to Viktor now, the unmistakeable directionality of his gaze causing him to wonder how he ever doubted that it was Yuuri he was looking at.

“Do you see it yet?” Phichit asks. “Maybe a close-up would help.” Phichit grabs a small controller and points it towards the back of the room, clicking it, and the next picture comes on screen. It’s a close-up of Viktor, the same close-up that Phichit had sent Yuuri that started all of this. It, in fact, looks like the _exact_ same screenshot Phichit had taken. “There we go. Just look at that.” Titters rise up from the audience. “Pretty damning evidence, right? Well, if you’re anything like Yuuri here, that wasn’t enough. He didn’t believe me that this guy right here spent the entire night checking him out, so I sent him off to look at the rest of the album. You’re welcome, by the way,” Phichit says, briefly turning to Yuuri. “And thankfully even _Yuuri_ , the most self-deprecating, modest, and anxious person I knew, couldn’t deny the evidence.”

Phichit clicks through several more slides of pictures, their guests giggling throughout all of them. “I won’t go through each picture from the album, but I can assure you that every single picture Viktor is in he is looking at Yuuri. It’s simultaneously adorable and disgusting just how hard he fell so quickly.” Viktor squeezes Yuuri’s waist at that, drawing him closer to press a kiss to Yuuri’s cheek as a round of _awws_ breaks out.

“But, anyway, even with all of _that_ ,” Phichit continues, gesturing to the screen, “it took quite a bit of convincing on my part to get Yuuri to actually _do_ something about it. He _finally_ agreed to give it a try, and try he did, until he finally was put in touch with Chris over here, and the rest, as we all know, is history.” Chris gives a little wave from his own seat to the right of Viktor.

“I think I’ll leave it to Chris to finish the rest of that story, so I’ll end on this: a toast to all the people who came before Yuuri and Viktor to bring them together. Leo and Guang-Hong, for inviting two people to your wedding who had no idea what they would become to each other and ultimately supplying the means for them to meet; Chris’s boyfriend at the time, who was out of town and left his plus one seat to Viktor; the photographer for capturing a romance unfolding on film; Chris for actually inviting Viktor to the wedding and then for setting them up on their first date; and, humbly, myself as well, for pushing Yuuri in the right direction right from the get go, because let’s be honest: without me Yuuri would never have even met Guang-Hong in the first place. And, of course, to Yuuri and Viktor themselves, for putting in the rest of the work to make this relationship a success.”

Yuuri smiles up at Phichit for a brief moment at Phichit’s pause. Phichit raises his glass to Yuuri and Viktor. “I think it goes without saying that the two of you were fated to be together from the beginning, and it has honestly been a pleasure to have played a part in that. Congratulations for finding your other half, your soulmate, the love of your life.” Phichit turns and holds his glass out to the guests. “To Yuuri and Viktor!”

The crowd echoes the toast, glasses clinking together. As applause rises up, Yuuri pulls Viktor in to a soft kiss, one of many that they’ve shared over the past year, not even the first of what they’ve promised to be the rest of their lives, but still no less monumental than the day Yuuri came home, exhausted from work, to a picture on his phone of a man staring at someone, already half in love.

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
